02.04.09
“Our ongoing concern with the efficacy of recalls and their impact on federal child nutrition programs is heightened by the hundreds of salmonella poisoning incidents connected to the consumption of peanut products reported in recent weeks. Responding to the salmonella outbreak, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitation problems at the PCA facilities,” Miller and McCarthy wrote in the letter.
Although the Blakely plant makes up a relatively small portion of the peanut market, its peanuts are frequently used in other products. Federal officials have already recalled 800 consumer products that were linked to the PCA outbreak, and USDA has acknowledged that the agency purchased and distributed products involved in the recall.
“This outbreak offers more damaging evidence of the failure of previous federal policy to make sure that the foods served to our nation’s schoolchildren are safe and healthy,” Miller and McCarthy said. “President Obama has made it clear the federal agency tasked with safeguarding this program needs serious improvements. With school food programs across the country working hard to keep nutritious and healthy meals on the lunch menu, the government needs to do its part to make sure that schoolchildren, school staff and American consumers aren’t at risk.”
As Miller and McCarthy noted in their letter, GAO is already investigating the safety of meat products used in the nation’s schools. The lawmakers requested that probe last February, after an undercover video by the Humane Society of the United States revealed egregious abuses of cattle at a California meatpacking plant, which led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history. A significant portion of the recalled meat had been supplied to school and other federal nutrition programs. For more information on the meatpacking investigation, click here.
Miller is the chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and McCarthy is the chair of the panel’s Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities. The Committee has jurisdiction over school nutrition programs.
Below is the full text of their letter to GAO.
***
February 4, 2009
Mr. Gene L. Dodaro
Acting Comptroller General
U.S. Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20548
Dear Mr. Dodaro:
Last February, Senator Richard Durbin, Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Carolyn McCarthy, and I requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine school food safety issues in the wake of reports that federal school nutrition programs distributed potentially contaminated beef products from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company to schools nationwide (see enclosed). Some of this meat was later recalled causing confusion, extra expense, and difficulties in managing the recall in many schools that participate in federal school nutrition programs.
Unfortunately, our ongoing concern with the efficacy of recalls and their impact on federal child nutrition programs is heightened by the hundreds of salmonella poisoning incidents connected to the consumption of peanut products reported in recent weeks. These incidents led the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) to issue a series of recalls last month. Responding to the salmonella outbreak, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitation problems at the PCA facilities.
The FDA has now confirmed that schools received peanut products subject to this latest wave of recalls. Accordingly, I ask that the GAO expand the examination already underway to incorporate any issues specific to the recent contamination of peanut products.
Thank you for your attention to this issue. Please direct your staff to coordinate GAO’s investigation with the Education and Labor Committee’s Senior Investigator, Ryan Holden, who may be reached at (202) XXX-XXXX.
Sincerely,
Enclosure
cc: Howard “Buck” McKeon
Senior Republican Member
Rosa DeLauro
Chairwoman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture
Richard Durbin
Senator
Lawmakers Ask GAO to Investigate Spread of Contaminated Peanuts in U.S. Schools
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following new reports that peanuts associated with the widespread salmonella outbreak made it into the nation’s school cafeterias, Democratic lawmakers today called for the U.S. Government Accountability Office to expand an ongoing investigation into the safety of foods used in the federal school lunch program to include contaminated peanuts. This would be the first independent government investigation into the effects of the outbreak on schoolchildren. The letter, sent by U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), comes after new information was revealed about the unsanitary conditions at the Peanut Corporation of America in Blakely, Georgia that led to the outbreak. According to new reports, the plant’s outbreak has been linked with sickness in more than 500 people; including eight deaths.“Our ongoing concern with the efficacy of recalls and their impact on federal child nutrition programs is heightened by the hundreds of salmonella poisoning incidents connected to the consumption of peanut products reported in recent weeks. Responding to the salmonella outbreak, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitation problems at the PCA facilities,” Miller and McCarthy wrote in the letter.
Although the Blakely plant makes up a relatively small portion of the peanut market, its peanuts are frequently used in other products. Federal officials have already recalled 800 consumer products that were linked to the PCA outbreak, and USDA has acknowledged that the agency purchased and distributed products involved in the recall.
“This outbreak offers more damaging evidence of the failure of previous federal policy to make sure that the foods served to our nation’s schoolchildren are safe and healthy,” Miller and McCarthy said. “President Obama has made it clear the federal agency tasked with safeguarding this program needs serious improvements. With school food programs across the country working hard to keep nutritious and healthy meals on the lunch menu, the government needs to do its part to make sure that schoolchildren, school staff and American consumers aren’t at risk.”
As Miller and McCarthy noted in their letter, GAO is already investigating the safety of meat products used in the nation’s schools. The lawmakers requested that probe last February, after an undercover video by the Humane Society of the United States revealed egregious abuses of cattle at a California meatpacking plant, which led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history. A significant portion of the recalled meat had been supplied to school and other federal nutrition programs. For more information on the meatpacking investigation, click here.
Miller is the chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and McCarthy is the chair of the panel’s Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities. The Committee has jurisdiction over school nutrition programs.
Below is the full text of their letter to GAO.
***
February 4, 2009
Mr. Gene L. Dodaro
Acting Comptroller General
U.S. Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20548
Dear Mr. Dodaro:
Last February, Senator Richard Durbin, Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Carolyn McCarthy, and I requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine school food safety issues in the wake of reports that federal school nutrition programs distributed potentially contaminated beef products from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company to schools nationwide (see enclosed). Some of this meat was later recalled causing confusion, extra expense, and difficulties in managing the recall in many schools that participate in federal school nutrition programs.
Unfortunately, our ongoing concern with the efficacy of recalls and their impact on federal child nutrition programs is heightened by the hundreds of salmonella poisoning incidents connected to the consumption of peanut products reported in recent weeks. These incidents led the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) to issue a series of recalls last month. Responding to the salmonella outbreak, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitation problems at the PCA facilities.
The FDA has now confirmed that schools received peanut products subject to this latest wave of recalls. Accordingly, I ask that the GAO expand the examination already underway to incorporate any issues specific to the recent contamination of peanut products.
Thank you for your attention to this issue. Please direct your staff to coordinate GAO’s investigation with the Education and Labor Committee’s Senior Investigator, Ryan Holden, who may be reached at (202) XXX-XXXX.
Sincerely,
| GEORGEMILLER | CAROLYN McCARTHY |
| Chairman | Chairwoman |
| Committee on Education and Labor | Subcommittee on Health Families |
cc: Howard “Buck” McKeon
Senior Republican Member
Rosa DeLauro
Chairwoman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture
Richard Durbin
Senator
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